Partner Swapping
1. Swapping
This referred to the act of exchanging coupling partners with each other. However, it wasn't a particularly recommended practice. There were several reasons why, but the primary one was that it could disrupt the carefully tuned coupling wavelength. For Holy Knight pilots, the coupling wavelength was vitally important. The Holy Knight's sensitivity, fuel efficiency, and output all varied depending on how high the wavelength match rate was. The coupling wavelength match rate determined just how much of a coupling partner's abilities one could draw upon. Because of these side effects, swapping wasn't common among Holy Knight pilots. There was no real reason to swap when you already had a solid partner anyway. But there were times when it was unavoidable. For instance, when combat injuries left many pilots in the unit with broken couplings. To fill those gaps, pilots who'd lost their coupling partners had to be paired with someone—anyone—else somehow. In that regard, the 393rd Unit had around twenty Holy Knights in total, but six of them were currently unable to operate fully due to broken couplings. Nearly 30% of the unit's combat strength was effectively paralyzed. Including Karen and Netoru—who were expected to recover soon—that number jumped to a whopping seven. Which made swapping inevitable if they wanted to patch even a fraction of that power vacuum.
2. And so, the venue was the hangar interior. The 393rd Unit members had accepted Rien's proposal and were in the midst of conducting swaps. The process was straightforward. Pairs of men and women boarded a Holy Knight first, then ran a simple wavelength check to see if the coupling synced smoothly. If it seemed like a decent match, they'd tentatively designate them as backup partners and piece things together like a puzzle, one pair at a time. By that logic, there were currently six pilots without partners.
‘Four guys. Two women...’
Netoru mulled over the situation and let out a soft tsk. The more he looked at it, the weirder the unit's predicament seemed. If coupling partners had ended up hospitalized together on friendly terms, none of this mess would have happened... In any case, it had thrown the gender ratio out of whack. With three men and three women, they could've refilled up to three Holy Knights. But with four men and only two women left, even perfect pairing would max out at two Holy Knights. No matter how they swapped for new partners, the women shortage meant two guys would be left high and dry.
────THUD!
“Eek! Shit... It's just gonna fall apart at this rate.”
One of the Holy Knights meandering through the hangar for a coupling test buckled and collapsed limply. Asuna, the maintenance chief watching from nearby, squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away on reflex. Clang, crash! The sounds of scattered tools and materials tumbling down echoed after.
“...As expected, huh?”
Asuna cracked her eyes open slowly, surveyed the wreckage, and smacked her lips in disappointment. They'd managed a coupling somehow, but the match rate was abysmal. The sensitivity sucked, and the controls felt all wrong. Still, a little practice might improve things...
While Asuna mulled that over inwardly, the toppled Holy Knight shakily hauled itself upright, and the cockpit hissed open. Out came Seres—her long purple hair neatly bound—and Pera from the 5th Squad. Their conditions, though, couldn't have been more different.
“Ughhh... Sis, I think I'm dying...”
“Mm... Sorry, Pera. I pushed too hard. You okay?”
Pera barely crawled out on trembling legs, his face ashen like he'd lost all his blood—pure exhaustion. Early symptoms of mana exhaustion. Even for that brief test run, a 16-year-old boy found the older Seres a hell of a handful as a coupling partner. He'd looked more like dead weight being dragged around than an active pilot.
“P-Pera!? You good!?”
Kyoko, who'd been spectating the test nearby, rushed over and naturally propped him up. Watching them, it hit home—they bickered constantly, but damn if they didn't sync well as partners.
“Asuna. How'd it go?”
“Kinda rough, yeah?”
“I see...”
Seres got the verdict from Asuna and flashed an awkward smile, like this was old hat. Unlike Pera, she betrayed zero fatigue, her usual soft expression intact. The massive skill gap was obviously the culprit.
“...Anyone else up next?”
Maybe after all those tests—Seres swept back the sweat-matted strands clinging to her cheek and scanned the room. But no male pilots stepped up. They'd all seen how the previous guys emerged from coupling with her. For all her gentle, welcoming vibe, Seres was a tough nut for the current unit roster—hard to handle in every sense.
“......Hm.”
With everyone dodging her gaze, Seres offered a troubled smile and idly twisted a lock of hair around her finger. The way she eyed the unit felt like a teacher staring down a class of wilted kindergarteners. Watching the scene, Netoru had a sudden thought. Wait—Seres's original partner couldn't have been much older than Pera. He turned to Karen beside him.
“Karen. Seres's old partner—was he 17?”
“Takuya? Yeah, spot on.”
“Kid must've been through hell.”
He'd suspected as much, but a wry chuckle slipped out anyway. How much could a scrawny 17-year-old really handle with a fully ripened coupling partner like Seres? His body just couldn't hack it in the end. Takuya was one of the pilots medevaced after the battle—mana nerve system damage, naturally. Which left Seres as one of the six broken-coupling pilots now. The unit had lost one of its top assets.
And it wasn't just Pera. Every guy who'd tested with her shared the same fate: staggering out of the cockpit, dizzy and wrecked. Simple reason—their coupling wavelengths didn't mesh, sure, but the skill chasm between them and her was a goddamn canyon. The 393rd's greenhorns just couldn't cut it. Kinda like him and Karen, really. Wavelength mismatch kept her from max output, but even if it synced perfectly, her skills still fell short of satisfying him. Her potential was off the charts from what he'd tested, but she was still a girl who needed plenty of... polishing. Though if you flipped it, that rawness was her biggest draw. Unfinished meant moldable—into his ideal shape.
With no one volunteering for Seres at last, Karen let out a sigh.
“...Finding her a partner ain't easy, huh.”
“No helping it. Nobody here can handle her. She's ex-knight order to boot.”
“Huh? How'd you know that, Netoru? She doesn't advertise it.”
“Just... overheard.”
Actually, straight from the horse's mouth. Fresh off arriving at the 393rd—back when Karen was laid up in the hospital—the first one Netoru scoped was Seres. Amid all the baby-faced rookies, her refined, ethereal poise and that knowing smile were magnetic. And her backstory? Pure catnip. Knight order female pilots were elite. Not bodybuilders like the guys chasing superhuman peaks, but yeogisa trained from girlhood to match those freaks. Coupling was all about synergy. Picking a polished knight like Seres over half-baked teens? Obvious choice.
...Not that it panned out. Got shut down hard.
Netoru snorted at the memory, then stood. No takers? Fine—he'd step up. Karen was sidelined anyway.
“H-Hey, hold on? N-Netoru? What're you—?”
Ignoring her flustered protest, Netoru strode toward Seres. Her eyes narrowed at his approach—not warm, but guarded.
“......You.”
“Seres. Commander's orders. Give it a shot with me.”
Netoru shrugged off her stare like water off a duck and hopped onto her Holy Knight—the one Pera had just vacated. Deep purple, matching her hair. Bulkier and tougher-looking than the rest, like a knight in heavy plate. Heavier, too, no doubt. Karen's ride was sleek and nimble; Seres's was a tank.
“In or out?”
He settled into the cockpit and eyed her. She stood frozen, staring. Then resignation flickered in those icy purple irises. She glanced at Karen. Silent eye-contact—like asking permission.
“You cool with this, Karen? Coupling with me might trash the wavelength you two tuned.”
“...W-Well...”
Low match rates meant fragile links—easy to snap. Karen hesitated, then sighed.
“I'm benched for a bit anyway. Whatever...”
“......Right.”
Seres traded looks with Karen, then turned back to Netoru. Her trademark gentle smile bloomed.
“Alright then. Let's do it. No room for personal drama with the unit like this.”
With that, she sprang aboard light as a cat. Knight order or not, female pilots got kid-glove treatment—no heavy lifting—but her form was crisp, honed.
“...Besides, I was curious about you myself.”
She peered down at cockpit-bound Netoru with a challenging smirk—like daring him to keep up. Chilling vibe. Lips curved sweet, but those cold purple eyes gleamed with unmistakable threat. No clue how she ended up buried here, but that knight pedigree shone through. World apart from the green unit scrubs. Looked like she planned to wring out some real mana this time.